Creating ‘Communities of Practice’ to Enhance Ecosocial Work : A Comparison between Finland and Australia

Abstract This article reports on findings from a small qualitative study in two industrialised countries—Finland and Australia, which aimed to engage social work practitioners in ‘communities of practice’ to collaboratively explore ecosocial work practice. Using a Participatory Action Research approach, a series of workshops were established to plan, implement and evaluate ecosocial work interventions. Data were gathered using qualitative pre- and post-surveys to examine changes to practice, including similarities and differences between Finnish and Australian practitioners. Overall, results indicated that practitioner engagement in the workshops increased their capacity to implement ecosoc…

Raising awareness of transformative ecosocial work: Participatory action research with Australian practitioners